The World Retail Banking Report 2019, published Oct. 29, 2019, by Capgemini and Efma builds a case for new, inventive banking models that bridge the divide between banks and “BigTech players.” Banks must collaborate with startups to remain relevant in the evolving financial ecosystem, researchers found. Sankar Krishnan, Capgemini executive vice president and author of The Power of Mobile Banking, published by Wiley in 2014, noted that the evolving financial services environment requires high scalability, high security and high throughput monitoring to predict losses and errors before they happen. Open APIs and banking infrastructures facilitate these capabilities, but banks must become more agile and innovative and offer more digital services, he stated.

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PayPal just paid $4 billion for Honey Science, a technology firm that develops browser add-ons that automatically find and apply coupon codes for member shoppers at participating online stores. Honey claims 17 million monthly active users worldwide and an online merchant base in excess 30,000. The acquisition will solidify PayPal’s position with online merchants and shoppers. More importantly, it signals that PayPal is willing to spend big as it charts a course to “democratize” the shopping experience. The acquisition cost works out to about $235 per active Honey user.

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EMVCo, the global technical body that facilitates worldwide interoperability and acceptance of secure EMV-compliant payment transactions, disclosed Nov. 19, 2019, that it enhanced its EMVCO Associates Program (EAP) to attract more like-minded organizations to its ongoing discussions and initiatives. Ideal candidates are companies that share EMVCo’s interest in integrating a range of technologies and acceptance methods into a unified international payments framework, according to EMVCo representatives. EAP, established in 2010, is expanding participation to facilitate new approaches to EMV Specifications, stated Bruce Rutherford, EMVCo Executive Committee chair. By expanding its scope and encouraging participation, EMVCo is looking for commentary from payments industry stakeholders around the world, he noted.

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Fresh off a series of congressional inquiries, technology giants Facebook and Google are planning to broaden their reach with new payment and banking services. Facebook stated it is consolidating payment functionality across its social media apps – Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp onto a single payments platform, called Facebook Pay. Meanwhile, Alphabet Inc., parent of Google, reportedly is working to expand its Google Pay app to function more like a bank. The Wall Street Journal reported that Google's plan, code named Cache, is to offer consumer checking accounts beginning next year. The service would be offered through the Google Pay app, but checking accounts would be maintained at various U.S. banks. The mega-bank Citigroup, is said to be partnering with Alphabet on the project, as well as Stanford (University) Federal Credit Union.

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Global payments acquirer Elavon, subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp, disclosed Nov. 17, 2019, that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Sage Pay, a U.K.-based payment gateway and division of The Sage Group, a cloud solutions provider. The $300 million agreement is expected to close in 2020, subject to regulatory approval, Elavon representatives stated. Declan Lynch, CEO of Elavon Financial Services DAC, is optimistic that the newly formed entity will accommodate Sage Pay assets and staff. Elavon Financial Services DAC, doing business as Elavon Merchant Services, is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland and the Prudential Regulation Authority. “We are thrilled to bring the talents and capabilities of Sage Pay employees to Elavon, where they will be an integral part of our company that is investing in the future,” he stated.

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As the holiday season draws near, cybercriminals are making lists and checking them twice, according to a new study by Arkose Labs. The Q4 Fraud and Abuse Report,” published Nov. 5, 2019, cited a 70 percent increase in bot-driven account fraud. Researchers analyzed over 1.3 billion financial service, ecommerce, travel, social media, gaming and entertainment transactions between July 1 and Sept. 30, and found one in five account openings were fraudulent. Kevin Gosschalk, CEO of Arkose Labs, said the report shows evolving patterns in global cybercrime, which has become broader and more complex in nature, making incentives and victims more difficult to detect.

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Kabbage, the online lender that has been building a business in small-business financing, now wants a slice of the payment processing pie, and in particular business-to-business transactions. The company’s new Kabbage Payments aims to make getting invoices paid faster “as simple as sending a text message.” It’s being offered, at least initially, to Kabbage borrowers. “Since 2011, we’ve helped hundreds of thousands of small businesses access over $8 billion in funding,” said Kabbage CEO Rob Frohwein. “We know first-hand a primary need is to cover cash-flow gaps while waiting to be paid. Kabbage Payments not only expands our suite of products, but the very definition of our company.”

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Following a long-standing tradition of cooperation among payments enterprises to expand business prospects while bettering the industry, two organizations formed a promising alliance last week. Having determined they share a mission to create better opportunities for women and the men who advocate for them in the fintech and payments industries, the Women’s Network in Electronic Transactions (Wnet) and the European Women Payments Network stated they are “coming together to allow their respective members to share the benefits of both networks.”

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Nearly 100 equipment finance executives convened at Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution on Nov. 6, 2019, to examine technology’s impact on their evolving industry. Monitor, an industry trade publication and resource for equipment finance professionals, hosted Equipment Finance Disrupted+, the first in a new conference series. The one-day event included a mix of keynote presentations, panel discussions and networking opportunities. Eduardo Del Rio, cofounder and president of AA Bankers, a working capital solutions company, found the conference enjoyable and thought-provoking. “It’s important for finance leaders to think outside the box and not just stick to what we know,” he said.

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A new study, Hospitality 2020+ The Reasons Why We Talk About Data-Driven Commerce, published Nov. 5, 2019, by secure commerce technology provider FreedomPay, portrays a prospering but fragmented hospitality market with substantial room for improvement in IT infrastructure and technology integration. While many hotel, lodging, travel and food and beverage businesses have benefitted from online services and increased consumer spending, they are also competing with Airbnb and other technology startups, researchers found.

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Technology startups and legacy brands gathered Oct. 27 to 30, 2019, at the Las Vegas Sands Expo and Convention Center for Money20/20 USA. This year’s theme, Journey to the Future of Money, was reflected in more than 500 presentations, networking meet-ups and trending hashtags #Money2020 and #Money2020USA. The conference drew more than 2,300 senior executives and 3,400 companies, according to event organizers.

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